De rechtvaardige oorlog: zoeken naar de zin van een eeuwenoud concept

Abstract

Few concepts in the history of Christian theology have had such a lasting impact on contemporary political thinking as the doctrine of the just (or justifyable) war. In this contribution, I try to identify the meaning of the just war tradition as opposed to its two foremost competitors: a political pacifism and a crusader approach. After describing each of these theories, I draw upon the British-Indian philosopher Chandran Kukathas to explain the nature of pluralism. In the last section, I use the pacifism of John Howard Yoder in an attempt to retrace the proper meaning and explanation of just war thinking as being a strategic elaboration of the pacifism of Jesus and the early church in the context of a complex and fallen world.